It's been one hell of a year for music fans: Britney, Kylie and Robyn staged impressive comebacks; Amy Winehouse sold more albums than anyone else despite taking an increasingly part-time approach towards pop stardom, and The Hoosiers invented a genre all of their own: something called "odd-pop". Meanwhile, Leona Lewis proved once and for all that The X Factor really can create superstars. But, with so much going on, what were the year's musical highlights? DS counts down our top 20 singles of 2007.

It's a story as old as time: boy meets girl; boy realises he fancies girl; boy's too chicken to tell her how he feels. The twist? Plain White T's frontman Tom Higgenson turned his missed opportunity into a worldwide smash, writing about unrequited love in simple, strum-along fashion. But what about Delilah? Well, she became an athletics coach at a college in Pennsylvania, apparently.

19. McFly: 'Transylvania'Released: May UK chart peak: #1

Released as a double A-side single with the inferior 'Baby's Coming Back', 'Transylvania' was McFly's most adventurous moment to date. With its pounding piano riffs, multi-layered vocals and scorching guitar solo, it makes for a far more fitting Queen tribute than their rather anaemic take on 'Don't Stop Me Now'.

Hot on the heels of My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, Jared Leto's emotionally-wrought, melodramatic rockers screamed their way into our hearts with this rollercoaster ride of explosive riffs and strangled, shouty vocals. A cinematic epic that provided the soundtrack to a million teenage break-ups.

17. Girls Aloud: 'Call The Shots'Released: November UK chart peak: #3

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Though 'Sexy, No, No, No' was a bit of a clanger first up, and there was nothing to match the wondrous 'Biology' on their Tangled Up album, 'Call The Shots' proved Girls Aloud hadn't lost their knack for making supremely catchy pop hits. Filled with shuddering dance beats and plenty of robotic "oohs" and "aahs", it kept Cheryl and co. in the headlines for all the right reasons.

16. Take That: 'Shine'Released: February UK chart peak: #1

Beautiful World, Take That's comeback album, might have been more successful than Robbie Williams could ever have imagined, but something was missing: where were the reminders that the boys used to be pretty good at wiggling their hips? 'Shine' was the disc's sole danceable moment, a glammy pop stomper that borrows ingredients from ELO, The Beatles and the Scissor Sisters and mixes them all into a delicious pop pudding.

'Apologize' united two of 2007's most prominent knob-twiddlers: Timbaland, who crafted hits for Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and, of course, himself, and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, the producer and co-writer of Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love', the year's biggest-selling single. The result? A winning fusion of chest-thumping MOR balladry and beefy, modish beats.

14. Kate Nash: 'Foundations'Released: June UK chart peak: #2

It's not easy to forge a career in Lily Allen's shadow, but Kate Nash has managed it - just about stealing Allen's Princess of Indie crown in the process. 'Foundations' was her calling card, marking her out as an intelligent, everyday girl whose tales of silly boys, failed romances and teenage angst captured the insecurities of a generation groomed on Heat magazine and Trinny and Susannah.

Reminding us that Scandinavians still do pop music better than us Brits, Robyn sank her teeth into the UK top 40 with this emotional, enchanting dancefloor gem. Dodgy hairdo notwithstanding, the sassy Swede became the underdog success story of 2007 when 'With Every Heartbeat' romped to the top of the charts over the summer.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

12. Kanye West: 'Stronger'Released: August UK chart peak: #1

Kanye West managed to marry his interminable boasting to a truly transcendent chorus just once on his Graduation album â€“ on lead single 'Stronger'. Using a sample from Daft Punk's 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger' to brilliant effect, the bragging rapper created a state-of-the-art fusion of hip-hop and electro.

Any song that opened with the line: "You used to get it in your fishnets, now you only get it in your night dress" was bound to make our end of year list. Throw in the best Britpop-style bouncy guitar line that Alex James never used and a nice bit of saucy seaside humour, and you've got one of the finest indie tunes of 2007.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

10. Amy Winehouse: 'Back To Black'Released: April UK chart peak: #25

Behind the murky tabloid headlines and increasingly patchy live shows, Amy Winehouse was still releasing singles that cemented her reputation as the finest soul singer of our generation. The sumptuous, heart-wrenching 'Back To Black' epitomised her ability to captivate music fans while sounding very, very self-destructive indeed.

9. Britney Spears: 'Gimme More'Released: October UK chart peak: #3

Forget Houdini, Britney's the greatest magician of all-time, managing to conjure up pop greatness during a year of endless personal calamity. 'Gimme More', a hook-up with Timbaland protege Nate 'Danja' Hills, was one of the fallen pop princess' most irresistible singles, a throbbing dancefloor delight dripping with lust, urgency and groin-grinding sexual tension.

8. Mika: 'Grace Kelly'Released: January UK chart peak: #1

At the start of the year, we failed to realise we needed a falsetto-abusing Lebanese pop singer to rock our world, but, by the end, we were unsure how we ever coped without one. Released in January, 'Grace Kelly' was Mika's mega-camp hello to the world, a song filled with more carefree joie de vivre than anything else 2007 managed to throw up.

7. Gossip: 'Standing in the Way of Control'Released: March (reissue) UK chart peak: #7

It might have been well and truly murdered by TV advertisers desperate to appeal to that all important 16-34 demographic, but we never got sick of Beth Ditto and co's gospel-rock juggernaut. If anything on their next album is half as good as this, we'll be very, very excited.

Take one stadium dance duo, add a strop-faced former girl-grouper, sprinkle with a little pop magic, et voila! You've got one of 2007's best singles. Was Mutya singing about her Sugababes successor when she snarled 'That's who has replaced me? What a diss!" This tune's whopping chorus made sure we never got tired of guessing.

5. The Hoosiers: 'Goodbye Mr A'Released: October UK chart peak: #4

If, this time last year, someone had told us that two of 2007's most inescapable pop songs would borrow liberally from a seventies prog-rock band, we'd have replied 'Yeah, right, and Lisa Scott-Lee will have a number one single too!' But the Hoosiers opted to join Take That in the ELO fan club, throwing a shedload of weird sound effects over the piano line from 'Mr Blue Sky' to create a delectable "odd-pop" confection.

Too often, bands from Liverpool are content to churn out dreary trad-rock numbers, but Wombats proved the exception to the rule, making danceable, riff-heavy pop hits instead. 'Let's All Dance...' was the best tune from their debut LP and the highlight of every indie disco in 2007. Giddy, brainless rock had never felt this good.

3. Sugababes: 'About You Now'Released: September UK chart peak: #1

Another year, another juicy pop hit from Britain's coolest girl-group. Sugar-coated vocals, a pulsating electro backbeat and singalong lyrics about that boy you dumped but wish you hadn't helped the pouty trio to grab another number one single - the sixth of their career.

2. Leona Lewis: 'Bleeding Love'Released: November UK chart peak: #1

Leona Lewis could quite easily have returned from LA with a song as dated and charmless as 'A Moment Like This', her X Factor winner's single. Instead, she unleashed a tune that ticked all the boxes of cool, classy noughties divadom. Vaguely contemporary urban beats? Check. Lovelorn lyrics? Sure. Hyowge chorus on which diva shows off her incredible trilling skills? Hell yeah!

1. Rihanna: 'Umbrella'Released: May UK chart peak: #1

Everything about 'Umbrella' was simply massive: its bassline made your window panes rattle, its beats made your elderly neighbours bang on the walls in fury, and its chorus made your heart sing with delight. The super-sized R&B backdrop notwithstanding, at its heart was a simple, heartwarming message about loyalty and friendship.